JEDDAH, 29 November 2005 — Domestic pilgrims, Saudis as well as expatriates, will not be allowed to perform Haj except through licensed service companies, according to a new law approved by the Council of Ministers yesterday.
The weekly Cabinet meeting at Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh, which was chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, approved another law banning possession and production of chemical weapons.
King Abdullah emphasized the significance of the extraordinary Islamic summit, which is scheduled to start in Makkah on Dec. 6, saying it is “an opportunity to face the self, study joint actions, close ranks and strengthen unity.”
The new domestic pilgrims law is important as it aims at reorganizing the travel and accommodation of the pilgrims in order to prevent them from squatting in public places. It deals with more than a million pilgrims within the Kingdom.
“Under this law, Saudis and expatriates will not be allowed to perform Haj except through licensed service companies,” Culture and Information Minister Iyad Madani said after the Cabinet meeting. He said exemptions to this law would be determined by the executive bylaw.
Existing Haj service companies will be allowed to continue until their licenses expire, the Saudi Press Agency said, quoting the law. Private agencies serving foreign pilgrims such as the Tawafa organizations, Madinah Guides and Zamzam water distributors shall be banned from providing services to domestic pilgrims.
The companies must be financially sound and must have capable administration to get licenses. They must extend their services at reasonable rates and employ only Saudis for administrative jobs and contracting pilgrims. Companies intending to seek licenses must produce a bank guarantee, valid for a year, for an amount of not less than SR300 and not more than SR600 for each pilgrim they serve. The money will be released only at the end of Safar, the second month of the Hijrah year.
The new law will not be applied this year as it comes into effect 90 days after its publication in the official gazette. This year’s Haj begins on Jan. 8 when an estimated 2.5 million pilgrims will assemble in the tent city of Mina.
During the Cabinet meeting, King Abdullah emphasized the need for completing the international probe on the killing of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri and praised the Syrian leadership for the cooperation it extended to the UN team.
Speaking about the upcoming parliamentary elections in Iraq, the king hoped that the new Parliament would represent all Iraqi groups and that the elections would be an expression of the free will of the Iraqi people.
Referring to the current official visit of South Korean Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan to the Kingdom, the Cabinet hoped that the visit, which started yesterday, would strengthen bilateral cooperation, especially in the areas of energy, technology and trade.
The Cabinet authorized the Civil Aviation Corporation to take necessary measures to sign a memorandum of understanding between countries participating in the NAFISAT telecommunication project and international organizations such as IATA, ATNS and ICAO. The cost of the Kingdom’s participation in the project will be met from the corporation’s budget.
The new chemical weapons law prevents any person from developing, producing, possessing, preserving, storing and transporting chemical weapons. All chemical facilities must be accessible to inspectors.
Violators of the law will be fined not less than SR500,000 and not more than SR1 million or jailed not less than five years and not more than 20 years or liable to both punishments. The law replaces the measures taken to implement the international agreement on banning the preparation, production, storage and use of all chemical weapons and their destruction.
The Cabinet instructed the Ministry of Water and Electricity to link all houses and firms with a sewage network after completing the project and receive its charge from the building owners. New building owners must pay the charge fully to the ministry while the existing buildings will pay in 36 monthly installments after the launch of the service. The amount will be added to the water bill.
The Cabinet authorized the minister of Islamic affairs to sign a memorandum of understanding with Pakistan on Islamic affairs. It appointed Sultan ibn Jamal Shawali, deputy minister for mineral affairs at the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Dr. Khaled Al-Sulaiman, deputy minister for industrial affairs at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and Abdul Aziz ibn Saad Al-Ghamdi, director general of the state property department at the Finance Ministry.
